


A Raven’s Cry.

by NavyInk



Series: Canon Character Oneshots [2]
Category: DCEU, Titans - Fandom, dcu comics
Genre: (sometimes), Angst, Father/Daughter Relationship, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, I don’t know how else to tag that, Mentions of Death, Rachel Roth gets a hug, Rachel Roth needs a hug, Rachel is half demon, Sad, and cannot control her other half, bullying/mentions of past bullying, comfort from friends, descriptions of death, so be warned there will be writings showing how it takes control of her
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:53:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27674312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NavyInk/pseuds/NavyInk
Summary: Some Rachel one shots, hope you enjoy!
Series: Canon Character Oneshots [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1829005
Kudos: 5





	A Raven’s Cry.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rachel is struggling to control the demon inside of her lately, and she gets too overwhelmed. Good thing she’s not alone for it.

Rachel shifted uncomfortably, trying to shake the voice from her head. It was getting too loud, too persistent, and she needed to get rid of it now. Before long, it’d have her shaking and crying in the corner, just begging to be left alone. She didn’t want it to get that bad; definitely didn’t want it to make her weak enough to control her. 

If it did… well, she was probably going to be in for a long night. Along with the rest of the titans. That couldn’t happen, not again. Rachel knew she’d done more than enough damage last time; what she didn’t want was to cause more. The titans had enough to deal with without her mess to clean up, and they deserved better than that. They deserved the night off, they’d worked for it, missed countless other days off. She didn’t want them to slave away on her next day off, cleaning up a mess she made because she was too weak to fully control herself. 

Besides, they’d only hate her more if she made a mess and she didn’t want that at all. Perhaps it was selfish, but she couldn’t deal with the titans hating her, with anymore people hating her. There were enough of them already. So many people hated her. 

So… so many people. 

God so many people hated her, didn’t they? They all hated her, and it was all her fault. She made them hate her, by being weak and pathetic, and stupid and everything in between. She was just an angry little teen. No one cared about her, they all hated her - and they had a right too. 

Her eyes filled with tears, quickly spilling over and racing down her cheeks. Pools of her tears started to soak through her bed sheets, leaving traces of how heavily she was crying. When she noticed, she tried to hold back her cries, not wanting anymore to hit the sheets and to feel any more pathetic, but that only made it worse. The sobs she held back clogged her throat until she choked, gasping for breath and coughing loudly, the tears flowing again. 

This was stupid. All of this was so stupid. If she just hadn’t come to the titans, they’d have far less problems, right? She should just leave, up and leave and let the titans forget all about her and her to forget all about them. 

But… the only way for her to do that was to let it take control, and she couldn’t do that. No no no! This was probably its fault, it was the reason she felt like this and it truly was all in her head. None of it was read. 

‘But they do hate you,’ the demon sneered, the voice echoing around inside of her head. ‘They want you gone.’ 

“SHUT UP!” Rachel yelled abruptly. She wanted it gone now. The voice had been too loud for too long now, and it was affecting her thoughts now. “Just get out of my head!”

‘I’m not in your head, Rachel,’ it sounded like it was smiling, grinning, if it could be. ‘I’m part of you, don’t forget that!’ 

“No, no, no!” Rachel stood up now, gripping tightly at her hair as she started to pace around her room. Maybe movement would help. Help ground her so she could stop listening to it. “You’re not! I’m not a demon! I’m not!”

‘Accept it, and let me in, Rachel. It’ll be so much easier for you,’ it said. For a moment, it was silent, but then her eyes were black, and she felt displaced in her own body, as if she wasn’t really there. Now it was talking through her. “I can make everything better.” 

Rachel shook her head. No. This was not happening, she wasn’t losing control right now. Not again. 

“Stop it,” she mumbled, tugging on her hair. “Stop it and leave me alone.” 

‘You accepted me once, Rachel,’ it commented, smug-sounding. ‘When you defeated our father, you were happy and you accepted me for a while.’

“And then you got too strong and I couldn’t control you. You hurt me. You hurt my friends!” 

‘Actually, I believe you did that Rachel, since I am you after all…’ 

“Shut up. You’re not me. You control me and make me do horrible things. That’s why I don’t accept you now, leave me alone!” She yelled, ripping her hands from her hair and staring into the mirror. 

The face staring back at her wasn’t her own. No, her reflection’s eyes were black, and the gem was glowing atop her head. Now the demon was in her goddamn reflection again. She almost forgot how much she hated mirrors because of it. 

“I only try to help you reach your full potential. No one else will. They all hate you, they just want to get rid of you. Why do you even stick around with them? They’re all pathetic humans trying to put boundaries on you. You don’t need them. All you need is you. So run, Rachel, escape and never come back. It’ll be better for everyone!”

“NO!” She screamed, almost at the top of her lungs. 

Powerfully, and with more force than she thought she could muster, she drove her hands into the mirror, leaving it cracked and small fragments of glass falling from it. Her hand was now bloodied, but she couldn’t care less, all she wanted was that thing gone. 

Blood dripped from her hand, hitting the wooden floor, as she continued to stare into the reflection. Her real one was back now, or at least she thought it was, though she could never be sure when she couldn’t trust her own reflection. Now she noticed just how much she must’ve been crying and sobbing, given how red and blotchy her eyes were; how wet her cheeks were with tears stains; and how sore her entire face felt. Rachel felt exhausted.

But she was glad she was in her room, less chance of people hearing her sobs. It was a floor down from where most things were, and so she was often lucky enough to always be left alone when she was in her room. No noise, and no one to hear her. Luckily for her, that meant no one would come running into her room now. She could finally be… alone without the demon talking to her. 

Slowly, and carefully, she sat down in the corner of her room, knees pressed against her chest. She wasn’t crying anymore, but she still felt like she could, and she could only hug herself in that moment. It was the only comfort she had, and she wasn’t going to ask someone else for that comfort. Not if… everyone really did hate her. 

She closed her eyes, letting the exhaustion take her for a little, hoping to feel better and refreshed once she woke up. But… she wasn’t actually falling asleep like she thought. 

When she opened her eyes again, it hadn’t even been five minutes, - she could tell by the clock in her room - in fact, she figured it had only been one, but her room had been almost completely trashed. Her mattress was flipped, pillows and sheets thrown all over the floor, her dresser was emptied, draws thrown about the room like they were nothing. The mirror was on the floor too, the shattered pieces lay lifeless on the floor. 

Oh no, oh no no no. That hadn’t just happened. She couldn’t have just lost control, no way. She thought she got rid of it for now, she thought it was safe to relax. Now the titans had a bigger mess to clean up, and she’d have to tell them it was all her fault. They would hate her, they would kick her out-

She was crying again now, sobbing even. Tears rolling down her cheeks, her chest rising and falling at a pace that seemed like it shouldn’t have been possible, and her breath hitching every other breath she took. 

Everything had gone wrong. Everything had gone wrong. Nothing was going to go right. Nothing was-

As she was repeating that over and over again in her head, she heard the door slam open. Though she didn’t bother to glance up, she knew who it was almost immediately. 

Dick Grayson. 

She knew it in the way he barely gave a passing glance to everything else and ran over to comfort her. She knew it in the way he didn’t try to manoeuvre around the mess, and rather just stepped in it, knowing it was the easiest way to get to her. 

She may have hated to admit it at this moment, but she knew Dick would want to comfort her. 

“No, no, no-“ she started, “no, please don’t contact any closer.” She managed to get out in between sobs. 

That didn’t stop him, though. 

“Dick please, I don’t want to hurt you, I don’t—“

“Rachel,” Dick said softly, cutting her off. “I know you don’t, and I know you won’t.”

“But you don’t! I could and I will, please just—“

Before she could even finish her sentence, he wrapped her arms around her, pulling her into a tight embrace. She had tried to stop him, but she wanted this hug- no, she needed this hug. She needed to be comforted, and she knew that’s why Dick didn’t stay away. Because he knew it too. 

He held her for a moment while she cried and sobbed into his shoulder, definitely ruining his t-shirt, but he really didn’t seem to mind. While they hugged, he kept rubbing her back up and down lovingly, supportively, and every so often, he’d whisper that she was alright, that she was safe, and nothing bad was going to happen. Rachel hadn’t realised she needed that reassurance until he’d said it. 

After a long while, she pulled away, looking up at Dick with exhausted eyes. 

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled, “for the mess. I’ll clean it, I promise, just give me a chance to calm down properly and I’ll clean it. You don’t have to worry, I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to apologise for, Rachel. Things happened, and I’m just glad that you’re okay.” 

“Well, actually, about that…” she trailed off. 

“What happened, Rachel? Tell me, please,” he prompted, shooting her a concerned look. 

“I.. punched the mirror, trying to… y’know, stop it. I didn’t think it was too bad at the time and I just wanted to rest, but, I did get hurt.” 

“Come on then,” Dick whispered softly, reaching over to help her up. “Can you walk?”

“It was my arm not my leg, Dick,” Rachel said quickly, before realising how that sounded. “Sorry, I- uh, yeah, I can walk. I’ll be fine.” 

“Okay, let’s go to the bathroom so I can clean the wound and make sure it doesn’t get infected.”

“You don’t have to-“

“Yes I do, actually. You’re hurt, and I want to help make sure you don’t stay hurt. Besides I don’t think you should be alone right now, and this is the best excuse I have to stay around you.”

“You don’t need an excuse, dummy.” Rachel replied with a small smile on her face. The first in a while, and Dick was happy to see it. “You could just ask to hang out… I wouldn’t say no, I actually like you.”

“I should hope so, we have hung out a lot in the past and I’d hate to think you didn’t actually like me those times.”

“Oh shut up, you know what I mean.” Rachel replied, still smiling. “If you want an excuse to hang out, after you… fix my arm, we could watch game of thrones.”

“I’d love to, butttt, I have no idea what’s going on in that show.”

“That’s okay!” Rachel replied. “I can catch you up to speed on what’s happened so you can understand the episode. We can just watch one or two.”

“Now it seems like you’re making excuses to hang out with me.”

“Hey! It was your idea to stay with me.” Rachel replied, playfully hitting Dick with her uninjured hand. 

“I’m joking, I’m joking,” he said, chuckling softly. “I’d love to.” 

“I’d love to as well…”

Once they arrived at the bathroom, Dick sat Rachel down on the toilet, and went searching through the few cupboards in there to find the first aid kit. He found it quick enough, and threw it open, raking through it to find what he was looking for. 

“Is it hurting much?” He asked once he found the cleaning wipes and bandages. 

“A little… mainly when I move my fingers, but the pain isn’t exactly going away.” Rachel answered, staring at the cuts in her hand and the dried blood down the sides of her hand. 

“Okay, okay…” Dick whispered gently, opening the wipes. “This is going to sting a little bit but then it’ll be over, I can wrap your hand up, we can watch game of thrones.”

“Alright.” Rachel mumbled, shutting her eyes. 

Was delicately as he could, he wiped the blood from around Rachel’s hand and cleaned the wounds as best she could. She winced, trying to pull her hand away at times, but ultimately failed. Dick was much stronger than her. The second he was done, he let go of her hand and she clutched it close to her chest, biting her lip. 

“Shit, Dick, I didn’t think it would sting that much.”

“It’s basically like rubbing salt into a wound, except it’s alcohol and it cleans it. Of course it’s gonna sting, I just hope it wasn’t too bad.”

“I mean, I’ve felt worse.” She stated. 

“Yeah, I know…” he sighed, unsure of what part she was referring to, but knowing full well she had been through worse. “Now I just have to wrap your hand up and we can go on our way.” He smiled. 

She offered a smile back. It was nice, she was finally relaxing properly.

Wrapping her hand up, he sighed, and looked up at her with a worried expression. Rachel knew he was about to ask something, he wasn’t hiding that, but she really didn’t want him to. Even if she didn’t know what it was. 

“Why didn’t you tell me it was getting worse?”

“Didn’t want to bother you. Didn’t want to worry.”

“Rachel, you know you don’t bother me. I want you to talk to me and I will always listen,” he said softly. “And I will worry about you anyways. You don’t exactly live a normal life, so naturally, I worry. But I worry more when you keep secrets from me, from the titans, especially when it’s secrets that can hurt you, and others.”

“I know, it was selfish,” Rachel said quickly. “I know it was and I’m sorry, I just- really, I thought it would be too much of a bother to tell you but it was selfish and I realise that.”

“Woah, selfish is a strong word. I won’t call you it for wanting to deal with something yourself. I’m like that. But, I will say it wasn’t the best move and I want you to tell me next time, even if you send me a stupid text at three a.m. I want you to tell me.”

“Okay,” Rachel said, letting out a shaky breath. “Okay I will…”

“Great,” Dick smiled, sounding genuinely relieved. He finished packing up the kit, and looked at Rachel again. “Game of thrones now?”

“Yeah, yeah…” she nodded. “Let’s go.”

It took a while but Dick finally understood enough of the plot to watch the next few episodes with Rachel, and though this wasn’t really his taste, Rachel was enjoying it. She was snacking on popcorn, laughing, joking, pointing out references to past episodes Dick didn’t understand. So he was happy too. Rachel was distracted enough for her to be laughing after what just happened, and that was what he wanted.

They stayed watching game of thrones until late into the evening, and that night, Rachel fell asleep on the couch. She hadn’t wanted to go back to her room, with the mess, and so Dick gave her a pillow and blanket to sleep on the couch. 

When he came to check on her the next morning, she was awake, playing a game on her phone. She looked better than yesterday, and he knew it wouldn’t last forever, but for now. He was just glad she was happy, and that for the moment, she felt safe in her own skin.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you all enjoyed! <3


End file.
